You Think I'm a Boy, but Actually I'm Not!
by Selestice Solar
Summary: With Dad in the hospital, Haruhi and her step-sister Krystal find a job working as housekeepers for the Host Club. But they won't except girls; so they pretend to be boys. But outside of their job, their own managers are falling in love with them!
1. So We're Working for the Host Club!

Chapter 1

"Are you sure about this, Krystal? It looks…"

"Amazing, right? I bet the work here will be easy, dude. There's nothing to clean at all!" Krystal said, shouldering her bag with a look of determination on her face.

Haruhi and her step-sister stood in front of the door of a mansion, complete with marble walls and sculptures completely in the walls. The door was at LEAST ten feet tall, with huge brass handles that made their hands look like ants.

"Haruhi, it's okay. I already looked at the pictures, and it seems to be good enough. The pay is great too. Plus they give room and board—for free!" Krystal was insistent, it was the only job that she could find. All of the shops didn't need any more employees, and this house keeping job was by far the most convenient and with the most pay: one hundred fifty dollars for one hour! (A/N: I'm using US dollars here!)

"Fine, then." Haruhi bit her lip, also shouldering her bag. She brushed some of her short hair out of the way, brown eyes looking far and distant. Somewhere a bird called.

"And besides," Krystal reasoned, "Dad and Mom are in the… the hospital. They need us. The sooner we get the pay and to work, the—"

Krystal's sentence was cut off, because suddenly the big doors opened without a single creak. She and her sister's smelled roses, and…

"Welcome," six boys said in unison.

"This is really weird," Haruhi whispered, and then the lights totally went off and there they were: six boys gawking at them.

"Got that right," Krystal whispered back. Then she noticed the boys and smiled in the heartwarming way that she had. "Oh, hi! We're the two new housekeepers. Is there anything you need to be done?"

"Dude!" A orange headed boy said to his twin. "I thought Tamaki said that the housekeepers were boys."

A blond boy, Tamaki, stepped forward, putting on his coat. "Yes, they are! See?" He pointed to Haruhi.

Krystal stifled a laugh. People had been doing that for years, ever since Haruhi cut her hair short because of that little boy who put gum in her hair. They had had a good laugh over THAT story.

Haruhi nudged Krystal, muttering, "If it lets us get this job, then just let them think that."

"So can we set to work?" Krsytal asked, trying to forget about Haruhi and her boy problem thing.

Tamaki looked her over, hands on his hips. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but you cannot work as a housekeeper. We only except boys. After all, we would never, EVER let a girl work."

"We?" Haruhi's step-sister asked questioningly.

Tamaki gestured with his thumb to the rest of the five boys behind him. They all wore the same the uniform for the Ouran High Academy nearby. The sisters hoped that they wouldn't have to attend school, though. They were NOT looking forward to going to a famous academy where everybody was a snot or something.

"We are the Host Club," Tamaki said, as if that explained everything. "We help entertain young ladies, which is why we do not accept ladies as housekeepers."

"B-but," Krystal quickly said, looking for a solution that wouldn't get her kicked out, "I'm not a girl. I-I'm a boy, see?"

Quick as lightning, she whipped out a hair band, bound her hair into a tall ponytail and plopped a newspaper boy hat on top of her head. Instantly, she looked like a 1900's boy that went around on his bicycle throwing morning paper's at people's houses and front lawns.

"Oh, so you are a boy! Then why do you leave your hair long?" The twins asked in unison, doing hand motions in sync so they looked like robots.

Krystal tried to get rid of her feminine accent as Haruhi bit her lip, hoping that they would get this job. "Well, um, it was cool, you know?"

Haruhi almost gagged listening to that horrible excuse. Thank the lord that they were both wearing pants: Haruhi wore her regular, baggy board shorts and Krystal wore her ripped up, black skinny jeans and Adidas sneaks.

"Okay then!" Tamaki summed it up, clapping his hands, delighted. "Welcome! Come in, and we will give you your uniforms and the details of your jobs."

_Jobs? As in, more than one? _Haruhi mouthed to Krystal, but her step-sister just shrugged. Then they followed all six of the boys into the huge mansion that they were supposed to now call home.

The place was beautiful, no doubt about that. There were elaborate curtains that seemed to come down from the ceiling, and the place was so big that their footsteps echoed, but not in a creepy way. There were long, spiraling staircases leading to other places, paintings and china that tried to persuade Haruhi and Krystal: Come look and touch us!

And get in trouble, Krystal thought.

Marble tile served as the floor, with a variety of different carpets and rugs all over. A crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling.

As the sisters gazed around, Tamaki explained their jobs. "Haruhi, you will be responsible for the dusting, mopping, vacuuming, and the waitress during meal times when everyone is together."

"ONLY when everyone is together," a boy with glasses said, writing in a notebook that looked extremely heavy.

Tamaki continued without a beat, strolling through the kitchen, "Krystal, you will need to do the polishing, cooking, outside and inside gardening, and doing the dirty jobs."

Krsytal stopped walking, her brows furrowed together in confusion. "Um, the _dirty_ jobs? What is that supposed to mean?"

Before the blond could answer, it little boy who couldn't have been more than eight said, "Like the plumbing, water system, heating system… those kind of things." He hugged his stuffed bunny tightly and shuddered, like he was having a nightmare.

"Those aren't exactly _dirty_…" Krystal pointed out, crossing her arms but stopping herself from leaning on one leg in that girly way that she had. If she was going to work here, she was going to have to start working and acting like a boy too. Not that hard, but it wasn't going to happen overnight.

"To us gentlemen it is." Tamaki swished his hair to the side, and the sisters tried their best not to throw up.

Haruhi coughed. "Justin—cough, cough—Bieber—cough, cough." She and her sister shared a secret smile.

"And," Tamaki said with a puzzled look, "you will be personal assistants to us Host Club members."

This time Haruhi and Krystal started in on a coughing fit, their inhales and exhales sounding like sucking in smoke.

"Is it cold in here?" Tamaki asked ignorantly.

The boy with the glasses cleared his throat, flipping his notebook to the first page with an IPad attached to the side. "It's exactly seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit in here. Is that cold for you ladi—men?"

Krystal pulled herself together the best she could, but she really couldn't get over the fact that she was going to be a personal assistant for these FAKE, PLAYBOY-ISH guys! "No, n-not at all." She was still a bit shaky. "So who are we going to be personal assistants for?"

Tamaki peered over Notebook Boy's shoulder. "Krystal, you will be working for… aha—Honey, Kaoru, and Hikaru." He gestured to the boy who looked about eight years old with the bunny, and those red headed twins who immediately slung their arms over Krystal's shoulders, one on each side. They were staring at her so expectantly that she had to finally firmly pull their arms off until they stopped. Honey ran for her legs, smiling widely.

"—and Haruhi, you'll be working for Mori, Kyoya, and me. You're so lucky!"

Haruhi nearly died right then and there. She couldn't believe that she, of all people, were _UN_lucky enough to this blonde Justin Bieber boy to work for. She would've switched places with Krystal any day. Never mind that, she thought, as she glanced over at those twins who were smiling and staring so intently and creeping her out.

Well, maybe she was lucky enough to get Tamaki to work for after all.

Then Tamaki patted her on the head, and as Haruhi stared out the kitchen window at the sun setting in the west, she wondered why she accepted a job to work for these crazy, playboy men after all.


	2. You're Having Problems with School?

Chapter 2

~Krystal's POV~

_Beep, beep, beep. _

I jolted awake, looked at my surroundings, and almost freaked out.

Almost.

Then I remembered that yesterday Haruhi and I had gotten this housekeeping job for these Host Club boys' house. I wondered where their parents were.

Haruhi was staying in the other room, a sliding Japanese screen between the two of us. We only got cots to sleep on; the blankets were the ones that we only brought, nothing else. I remembered about the meeting at the front door, about them not hiring boys…?

I was not looking forward to being a boy, but it was better than nothing. Dad and Mom were in the hospital, and ever since that car crash, they hadn't even woken up yet. I wanted to go to the hospital right now and check up on them, but I couldn't do that. I had work to do.

The twins and Honey had told me that it was okay to decorate the room as I liked, so I got comfortable last night and hung a bulletin board above my cot, and thumb tacked a calendar on it. Plus, there was a schedule for everything that I was supposed to do that came from Kyoya, that boy with the glasses. A clock sat next to me, still beeping away.

I shut it off and stood up, stretched. Outside, it was still dark, six in the morning. I quietly walked over and slid open the screen door to check up on Haruhi. There she was, sitting on her bed, hair a mess. "Good morning," she croaked out.

"G'morning," I replied, my voice sounding like scraping gravel across cement.

After making sure that she was okay and asking about how she slept, I went to go and wash up. I twisted my hair up into a bun and set a sideways baseball cap so it would go with my 'boyish' appearance. In my duffel bag, I shoved past the skirts and leggings and went for the camo khakis and a big, loose t-shirt that made me seem a bit flatter than I really was. Ditching makeup, I hurriedly checked the first thing on my schedule: make breakfast.

Easy enough.

I grabbed a map of the huge mansion on my way out and followed the directions downstairs. In the morning, it was nice and quiet. Entering the kitchen, I quickly turned on the stove and found the ingredients that I needed for pancakes. Simple and easy to make. Haruhi came down soon after and started up the coffee brewer, though we weren't exactly even sure if these boys would drink coffee at all. So, just in case, we made some tea, too.

A few minutes later, I had a stack of pancakes ready at my service. My step-sister busied herself by making toast. I hoped that those boys that she was going to be a personal assistant for liked toast, though I sort of highly doubted it. I mean, these were RICH boys. They weren't used to homemade bread and plain toast with nothing on it. They were used to natural honey and freshly brewed coffee made from the finest coffee beans on the planet or something.

Everything was very simple to use—the stove, ingredients were easy to find; very convenient. The marble counter was wide and big, and there was more than enough space for everything and anything.

Since Honey was probably used to sleeping in a bit later than the rest of us teens, (though he was like, the oldest…) I decided to send up the twins' breakfast first. I placed three pancakes on each plate, drizzled them with organic maple syrup and butter, poured two hot piping mugs of coffee, and loaded everything onto one big silver tray. Then I hefted the whole thing up and headed towards toward the twins' room.

The room was absolutely dark, and when I knocked, nobody answered. My watch read seven thirty, so I guessed that this was the best time to wake them up. They had to get to school, man!

Uncertainly, I opened the door. There was a small nightlight on in the corner of the room, but other than that, nothing gave off light. But even without it, I could tell that the room was huge, with floor to ceiling windows with beautiful tapestries and curtains decorated all around. How come my room wasn't like this? Haruhi and I just got the old Japanese style room, with a wooden floor and a lame ole cot and a flowered screen. Geez.

Eyes adjusting to the darkness, I gently laid the tray onto a night table and opened the curtains, pulling them up until all the light came through from outside. The twins just muttered something in their sleep and turned around, backs facing the sunlight.

I sighed, lips pulled into a thin line. I walked towards the twins, grabbed hold of their covers, and, in one swift motion, flung them off.

And nearly gagged.

Okay, really, I know that it shouldn't have been surprising, but I was totally unprepared to see two twins in boxers. Nothing else. Gosh, if I had knew, then I wouldn't have pulled their covers off, I would've probably just splashed their faces with water or something. But I had already finished pulling the covers off, and there was just no time to re do _that_ action.

"WAKE UP!" I yelled. It was a bit mean to wake them up this way, but compared to the way that my old dad had to wake me up, it was like a drop of water next the ocean. Not very cool, if you asked me.

The two twins nearly leaped out of bed. They both shot up, stark straight. "Why'd you wake us up that way, dude?"

I placed my hands on my hips, then realized that I was supposed to be a boy. "How else do you think I would've woken you two boys up? Gently shake you awake?"

They nodded vigorously. One of them said, "That's what all the other maids did."

"Well, guess what?" I told them. "I'm NOT your maid, and I'm NOT gonna wake you up gently. BE A MAN! Tomorrow, I'm dumping a bucket of water on your faces." I stalked over to the blanket that I had yanked off of them and started folding it.

"Can we just have breakfast now?" They asked in unison.

"Help yourself," I called over my shoulder, laying the blanket back onto the bed again. Sitting down on the edge of their bed, I watched in silence as they took the tray and began to eat.

One of them nudged the other and whispered something. The other nodded, pointing at me.

"You know, I'm here," I said, waving.

They stared at me with that really creepy look of theirs, and asked, "Do you know who is who?"

I rolled my eyes at them. "Duh. The left is Hikaru, and the right is Kaoru. Is it supposed to be hard?"

Their jaws almost came off, eyes boggling at me.

"Yup," I answered my own question, standing up. Walking over to their dresser, they asked me, "By the way, why is your name Krystal? It's sort of weird. We were questioning it a lot when the boss—"

"You mean Tamaki?" I began to pull their uniforms out and laid them on the bed for them to dress into.

"Yes."

"Well, my name is Krystal," I started, a bit unsure where this conversation was going, "because the last baby doctor that my parents went to said that I was a girl. And so my parents named me Krystal, and… um, didn't have any time to change it." Biting back an insult at myself, my hands worked by themselves, organizing and color coding the clothes in the twins' dresser.

"Oh."

"Just eat your breakfast and mind your own business. I need to go check up on Honey now. Bring the tray down when you're done eating." Finished with these two idiots, I was halfway through the doorway when Kaoru said, "Stop. Take this tray."

"I just told you to take it down yourself. And get dressed!" My hand was closing the door when Hikaru said again, "Stop. You're our servant, so you follow our orders. And our order is: get back in here."

A sigh flew out of my mouth, but I obeyed. "What is it?"

"You aren't done with your job here," they said in unison.

My eyes spotted the cluttered desk, and I began walking towards it. Two briefcases—for school, I guessed—were on the floor. Picking them up, I turned them upside down and, voila, out fell a mess of papers, video games and cartridges, and some rose petals. Weird combination, I thought, but I started to sort through everything, getting down on my knees and making three piles: Kaoru's stuff, Hikaru's stuff, and Video Games.

But you can't expect me NOT to snoop around, can you?

And that's why I spotted a big fat F on a test paper. Carefully picking it up, I smoothed out the wrinkles and crinkles and looked it over. So it was Hikaru's, drawn all over, and pieces of it ripped out. Probably for spit balls. But that wasn't what I was concerned about. I was concerned about the education of these people. I mean, if these kids were going to inherit some big company or something, they had to have brains, and for the good stuff, not just video game cheats and football stats. I stood, paper still in hand. The boys were still sitting in bed, talking, so I sat next to them and gently said, "Are you guys struggling with school?"

You should've seen their faces! They stared at me in disbelief. I bet none of their maids or housekeepers or any number of their person assistants ever asked them that question. They probably had the: 'You stay out of my business, I stay out of yours' kind of relationship. But education was important. Even if these two twins were really little devils, I couldn't just ignore this, could I?

"Y-yeah," they mumbled, their cheeks getting a bit red.

I shook my head and smiled. "Listen. I'm your servant, right? If you ever need any help with homework, you call me. No exceptions. I don't care what subject it is. And you boys are not going to play video games, do you understand? You're gonna listen in class and take notes. Understand?"

They nodded, head bowed down.

Chuckling, I patted their backs. "Hey, you'll do great. Now get dressed and get ready for school, okay?"

Then, with that, I took the breakfast tray and headed downstairs to wake Honey up.


	3. They DITCHED Me!

Sorry I haven't been able to update this story for a long time; I just got back from Ken Ding in Taiwan. So let's just get right to the Fanfiction! How about it? ;)

Chapter 3

~Haruhi~

"Come on, let's go! School starts at eight! It is seven thirty right now, come on, go, go, go!" I hurried around the first floor of the mansion, straightening books on the shelves and picking up the Host Club's briefcases for school. Everybody was running around in a pandemonium, with lots of shouting and talking in the background. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Krystal holding Honey's hand, leading him to the front door, with the twins lagging in the back. How come my little 'group' couldn't be that organized?

"Tamaki-senpai! Let's go, stop staring at the fish in the fish tank!" Almost stumbling over my feet in my haste, I grabbed his shoulder sleeve and hauled him to the front door, where Kyoya shoved him into the sleek black limo parked in the street. Honey and the twins were already inside, sitting comfortable in the back.

Tamaki was still shouting something in the car, even though the door was closed. Krystal and I stopped in our tracks up back to the mansion. One of the limo's windows rolled down, and we heard Tamaki shout, "Come on! Get in!"

Krystal groaned and glared up at the big blue sky, as if it had done something wrong. She muttered, "Whatever," shouldered her bag of stuff (I had no idea why she even hauled that around), and stalked off to the limousine, leaving me standing on the paved road alone. "Haruhi," my sister called behind her shoulder, "hurry up! We're going to school."

Figures.

"So what's your schedule for the new semester?" I gestured for Kyoya to hand me the new class schedule for my group of three, and he plopped it into my hand. Scanning it over, I walked blindly, bumping into people but at least not getting stepped on.

"Art… math… okay, room 203—geography!" I announced, still looking down at the paper.

That's when I realized that something was wrong.

No one was bumping into me, and nobody was around me either. No sounds, just my shoes making contact with the floor. Stopping, I looked up to see that I was alone.

I didn't panic, sort of. I just looked down at the schedule. Right, room 203. So I just had to find that, right?

Still, with this huge school with its big chandelier and who-knows-how-many corridors, how was I even supposed to find this room at all? As far as I could tell, I didn't see any numbers on any of the doors, and no one was here, so and I couldn't ask anybody.

Alas, I wandered.

I tried my best to find the classroom, but each doorway had more doors, with led to more doors, which led to more doors. Sometimes I entered classrooms right in the middle of class, and I had to stop, say sorry, and ask if anybody knew where room 203 was. They all stared at me like I was crazy. Then they started whispering. I caught words like, "weirdo" and "nerd".

Not very nice, if you ask me.

Finally, after asking about ten billion different bunches of students where room 203 was (and getting no answers) I came to a stop.

This hallway was different. It had only one door and nothing else. In fact, this door looked just like the one at the mansion that I worked at with Krystal. Staring up at the big door, I saw a name plate: "Music Room 3".

Huh.

Curiously, I knocked on the door, gripping the big brass handles tightly. No answer. So maybe I was just supposed to open the door without knocking…?

A wash of rose petals flew over me, the scent almost sending me toppling. The bright light that poured out of the room bleached my sight, and for a few seconds I couldn't see anything. How come this routine seemed really familiar?

"Welcome!"

My shoulders slumped as far as they could go. These IDIOTS! Shouldn't they be in room 203 for geography? But I wasn't exactly sure how much time had passed though…

Finally my eye sight came back, and there they were: those six boys!

Placing my hands on my hips, I yelled, "I HAVE A FIST WITH YOUR NAMES ON IT, BOYS!" My chest heaved up and down.

I stormed over into the room, not even caring that there were many girls looking over to see the commotion. "I'm sorry, but for your information, you just ditched me IN THE HALLWAY! How did you expect me to get around!" The six boys stared up at me in their chairs, and, even though I didn't want it to happen, Honey started crying.

In between sniffles, I could make out the words that he was saying: "Haru-chan… sniffle… we didn't mean to… sniffle… to lose you… sniffle… we thought that… sniffle… you were with us…"

"Oh, Haruhi! Look what you've done. You've sent the boy crying all the way home." Krystal shook her head, making that _tsk _sound that she reserved for people who were despicable. She bent down and picked up Honey, twirling him in the air and setting him down in a chair. Racing faster than could be possible, she soon had a plate of strawberry cake in her hand gave it to Honey.

"Thanks, Krystal."

My sister smiled down at him, patting his head gently. Then she saw all the girls that were staring, and so without missing a beat, she picked up a pitcher and called out, "More tea, ladies?"

Tamaki sighed happily in his chair, gazing at Krystal. "He's a hard worker. The uniform suits him well, too."

I enjoyed the compliment, but I wasn't quite done with him yet. "Next time, you better take me with you—wherever you're going, because I'm NOT getting lost AGAIN."

"Okay."

Kyoya pushed up his glasses and shut his notebook. "Well, Haruhi, get changed." He shoved a bag at me, and I quickly backed up, hands raised. "Whoa, what do you mean?"

Tamaki brushed some of his blond hair out of his eyes. "You need to change into the school uniform, of course. We can't have you gentlemen wearing your, um, what are those pants that you wear called?"

"Jeans," the twins said from across the room. One of them—Kaoru, I thought—called out, "Krystal, I don't get this math problem!"

The other whined, "Why do we have to do our homework _now_? We've got work to do!"

Krystal was still doing her _tsk_ thing. "No, you're doing it _now_. And besides, all the ladies are enjoying it!"

It was true—there was a horde of girls crowded around them, saying things like, "Oh, they're smart!"

If they're so smart, I thought, then how come they need Krystal's help for a math problem?

Meanwhile, Tamaki was still rambling, "—We can't have you gentlemen wearing _jeans._ It doesn't suit the ladies' tastes."

"It's totally fine, Haruhi," Krystal said, pouring more cream into a pitcher on a table. "Just adjust it to your style!"

Well, that was easy for her to say. I mean, she wore the uniform, but with the shirt sleeves rolled up and the tie loose. And I don't know how she did it, but she managed to make the pants a bit shorter, around the ankles, so it was stylish for a girl but also suitable for a boy. Maybe she did some sewing, or she just rolled the cuffs of the pants up.

I turned my gaze away from Krystal and back to the hand holding a bag of clothes at me. Finally, I took it and hurried off in the direction of the bathroom. Hopefully they wouldn't bust in while I was changing and then realize that I was a girl.

But it's not like I was similar to one anyways.

The sun was going down, spilling a billion different colors in all directions. The ocean really was beautiful; I never really got to see it. The mansion was built in the perfect place, one side was the ocean, the other side were forests of all sorts, with lush green bushes and towering trees. I bet you could go in there and pick berries like in those Hans Christian Anderson fairytales.

"It's pretty, isn't it?"

I sat up in my reed chair, almost knocking over my glass of apple juice. Looking up, I saw Tamaki, sitting down next to me.

Straightening myself up, I took a sip of my juice, trying to not let my guard down. Krystal always said, "If you're in the business, act business-like."

"Y-yeah. It really is, huh?" I said, staring out into the ocean. The colors spread out in so many ways, washing over the water.

Tamaki smiled gently, his blond hair glinting in the only light that was left. His blue eyes showed more warmth then I thought possible. "Hey, you did a good job today. It's probably hard for you to get used to our ways. You know, the rich."

I chuckled, eyebrows raised. The ice in my glass clinked together. "It is. I swear, when Krystal said that we were going to be working here, I thought she was crazy."

The "Boss" sat up, eyes squinting at me. He held his own glass—prune juice or jujube juice or something. "_She _was crazy? You mean Krystal is a girl?"

Realizing my mistake, I sought my mind for a solution for my slip of tongue. "Um, no. I mean like, he acts and looks so feminine, my family and I sometimes mistake her for a female."

Trying my best to look like I mistook people for the wrong gender all the time, I was satisfied when Tamaki sat back down in his chair, reassured. "And besides, his real name was, um, Fred. But—ah—my dad changed it. He thought that Krystal was actually a girl."

I took a shaky breath and sat back in my chair, trying to look normal. Tamaki and I sat in silence like that for a while, just watching the waves overcoming the little seashells and grains of sand on the beach. Finally, Tamaki broke the silence.

"You know how you said that you wanted to come with us, wherever we went?"

The nod of my head answered that question.

"Well, next week, we're going to South Korea."

I stood up so abruptly, my apple juice spilled. "WHAT?"

And in the midst of it all, we both didn't notice the dark figure that was silently making its way to the street.


	4. What Glee Club, DongHae Boy?

Sooo sorry that I haven't posted up a chapter in like, weeks… :( I'll get the story up right away!

Chapter 4

~Krystal's POV~

"I told you Tamaki," I reasoned for the millionth time, "we aren't going to South Korea! Are you crazy or something?"

Everybody was sitting at the dining room table, talking about plans for vacation. Right after one day of school? And this one day of school just happens to be _the first?_

"Well," Kyoya started, "we already booked the flight… it says that we cannot 'delete' the flight, only change the time of takeoff. There are only two times, according to the pilot—next week or three months. He's busy all other days, I mean, the private plane pilot. Unless you would like to take the public airlines…" Kyoya was busily typing on his computer, glasses reflecting the light from the computer screen.

Haruhi tugged on my sleeve. "Well, Krystal, it won't be that bad, you know? It's only for a few days. Why not try it?" She gave me a smile. And we were all aware of Tamaki's face turning red. Weirdo, I thought.

I blew some hair out of my face, leaning back in my chair, arms folded across my chest.

"Yeah," the twins said, taking this opportunity to talk, "your older brother _wants _you to come." They stared up at me with those creepy stares that they had.

I tapped my fingernails on the polished table, pondering. It all depended on the time, though. But with Mom and Dad in the hospital…

Honey was looking up at me, googly eyes at full power. "Krystal," he whined, clutching Usa-chan, "please come! Pleeeeeeeeeassee?"

"I'll have to think about it."

Tamaki was about to cut in when I stood up, suddenly tired of all this chit-chat. "Excuse me," I said, and then walked out of the room.

~In the bathroom…

Tank top, beach shorts, flip flops. Totally awesome. No sideways baseball cap for this outfit—beach waves were way cooler.

Have you figured it out?

My girl clothes were not rotting in my bag, going to waste. You honestly didn't expect me to live with just _pants, _did you? No, because I was totally going to the beach as a girl. No comments from you.

But I was a bit… imprisoned.

I mean, how was I supposed to get out of here without letting the Host Club see me in my feminine clothes? I couldn't go through any of the doors, front, side, or back. No doubt Kyoya had security cameras hidden everywhere.

I looked around the bathroom, trying to see if there was any secret escape route… hey—was that a window?

Walking closer, I realized that yes, indeed, it was a window. I opened it, ready to cringe or wince if there were any squeaks. Freshly oiled. I stared down, saw the ground. It wasn't that far a drop, just a few feet or so. Easily, I grabbed my tote bag, slung it over my shoulder, then jumped out.

My first thought: Am I alive?

Now that I think of it, it was a pretty stupid question. But you can't blame me, after all, I have no experience jumping out of windows. How often do you think that I do that?

In the distance, I could see that the sun was about to set. Not quite, but almost.

Shouldering my tote bag, I walked on the beach, just ambling, staring at the waves and the colors as the sun set over the water. As I turned my head to see the seashells underneath me, something caught my eye. Some kind of concert?

Uncertainly, I walked over, squinting in the bright light. There was a group, dancing on a stage, and there was a crowd… half of it made up of girls. No, scratch that, like the _whole _group was made of girls, screaming.

I saw the dancers, and instantly my conscious made me focus on the boy at the top of the dancing pyramid. They were singing in Korean, no doubt—I took a class. To be honest: they were all pretty good looking, with girls that were probably turning other females into lesbians. I listened closely to the music and heard SHINee's Lucifer playing. Huh.

"Have you ever heard of Crown?" a girl asked me, her blue eyes glinting as she giggled. "I see that you're new."

My invisible, rude, snotty wall was immediately put up. "No, I haven't heard of them, and I don't want to know about them."

I turned on my heel, heading in the direction of the ocean. The sun was almost down, but I sat on the beach and felt the waves lightly wash over my feet.

I don't know how long I sat like that until I heard a voice: "Hey."

My first thought was that Tamaki had stalked me, along with the rest of the Host Club. Then I thought: Wait. They don't even know that I'm a girl. So they don't know that THIS is me!

Or maybe Tamaki was just trying to hit on me, like he usually does with every other girl that he comes across.

Again, the invisible, rude, snotty wall was put up. "Hi, stranger."

There was a laugh behind me. A long, loud laugh that I actually liked. It sounded… normal. If the Host Club ever did that, I would be out in the bathroom in about five seconds, throwing up.

Somebody sat next to me. I did my best to distract myself: playing with the sand and seashells, staring at the dark, murky waves, and other sorts of things. But when you're at the beach, you're sort of limited.

"Are you new around here?"

"Yes."

I could actually _feel _ the guy next to me smile. "So you go to Ouran?"

I was going to reply with one of my snappy comebacks, when I turned my head and caught my breath.

He was cute, in that Korean, dancing, K-Pop sort of way, with brown (dyed, that's for sure) that swayed to the right side. He wore a purple v- neck that clung to his chest, and beige board shorts, sort of reminding me of DongHae from Super Junior. He seemed to caught his breath too, with his mouth hanging half open.

Swallowing a lump in my throat, I said, "Don't you think that this is weird? I mean—I don't even know your name and then you're asking me all of these questions right out of the blue?"

He recomposed himself and stuck his hand out for a handshake. "Sorry, I can get sort of carried away. My name's Sean. I'm the leader of Crown."

Something registered.

_That boy on the stage… that's him!_

"I'm Krystal."

"Last name?"

I hesitated before giving him my new last name. "Fujioka."

"So… do you go to Ouran?"

"I work there."

"Not for the Host Club, by any chance?"

"That's the one."

Again, Sean laughed that big, bold laugh that he had, throwing his head way back, looking up at the starry night sky. I hoped that people weren't staring.

Sean went on: "Tamaki is always complaining that I lower his popularity status."

I bent my head down so my hair covered my face, smiling secretly.

"Do you think so?"

"No comment."

"Hey," he said, sitting up straighter. "Do you like dancing? Like, Korean pop?"

_Dancing…_

_ Daddy! I want to be a dancer! Please? _

_ Oh, Krystal, don't be so silly. You could never be a dancer._

_ B-but—_

_ Go outside and play, Krystal. I have work to do._

"Y-yeah, I like dancing."

"Really?" He widened his eyes, seeming to be really surprised. "That's great! We have a vacant space in Crown! You know, the glee club?"

"I know."

"So will you come?"

I bit my lip. "U-um, sure. What time?"

"Host Club hours. Try to ditch them if you can."

We laughed, and I said, "I'll try, if Kyoya doesn't send the cops on me."


End file.
